Prescribed Fire Update: Forecasted transport winds cause adjustment in today’s operations

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FREDONIA – As a result of this morning’s weather forecast, North Zone fire managers elected to adjust the scale and firing plan for today’s prescribed burn on the Jacob Ryan North Basin Unit located just north of Jacob Lake because forecasted transport winds from late morning through evening were predicted to be unfavorable for smoke dispersion.

“Instead of initiating large-scale broadcast burning operations, we focused on conducting a small-scale pile burning operation along portions of the burn unit boundary,” said Burn Boss Dave Robinson. “Northerly transport winds could have resulted in undesirable diurnal smoke impacts to the Jacob Lake Area and Highway 89A.”

Meanwhile, fire managers did successfully conduct pile burning operations, and reduce fuels along portions of the burn unit boundary. Likewise, they reinforced pre-burn preparation activities and observed fire behavior in portions of the burn unit – increasing firefighters’ situational awareness as they prepare to move forward into tomorrow’s planned operations.

Fire managers will re-visit weather conditions again tomorrow morning and move forward with the large-scale broadcast burning operations if air quality and smoke dispersion are favorable for meeting both forest health and public safety goals and objectives. Tomorrow’s weather forecast indicates that transport winds will shift back to a southeast/westerly pattern, which should greatly reduce the potential for diurnal smoke impacts the area.

As a reminder, implementation of prescribed fires is dependent on weather and fuel conditions including winds, temperature, humidity, moisture of the vegetation and ventilation conditions for dispersal of smoke, as well as prior coordination with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. For additional information on the Smoke Management Division of the ADEQ and to view prescribed burns authorized on any given day, please visit www.azdeq.gov/programs/air-quality-programs/smoke-management.

Additional fire information for the Kaibab National Forest can be obtained through the following sources:

  • Fire Information Recorded Hotline: 928-635-8311
  • Find us on Facebook: @KaibabNF
  • Twitter: www.twitter.com/KaibabNF
  • (Text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404 to receive text messages.)
  • Kaibab website “News & Events”: www.fs.usda.gov/kaibab
  • InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5194/

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